1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a business method for computer networks. More specifically, the present invention relates to the integration of disparate applications into a single functional application model that is then managed from an IT perspective as a single integrated system.
2. Description of Related Art
Currently, companies have “business processes” such as a Banking loan process, that are enabled by multiple heterogeneous technology. Because the business process itself may span multiple lines of business both internally and externally (supply chain processes), very often the enabling technology is of disparate types, managed by disjoint groups with little systems management integration between them. An example of this would be a loan process that is enabled by technology ranging from application, database, network, and server. In this example, it is very likely that each application, and associated enabling technology, would have a support group. Each group has a very focused view on their component, but no one has the business process view which is the aggregate of each of these “towers” as viewed by the business. The systems management paradigm is not aligned with how the business consumes the technology at the business level, and therefore does not reflect the true “health” of the business process as viewed by the consumers of the business process.
Therefore, a method of integrating the disparate applications into a single functional application model that includes the interdependencies, relationships and interfaces of each application would be desirable.